Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 1955

Labour Party leadership election, 1955

14 December 1955 (1955-12-14)

Candidate Hugh Gaitskell Aneurin Bevan Herbert Morrison Popular vote 157 70 40 Percentage 58.8% 26.2% 15.0%

Leader before election Clement Attlee Elected Leader Hugh Gaitskell

The 1955 Labour Party leadership election was held following the resignation of Clement Attlee. Attlee was Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951 and stayed on as leader of the Labour Party until he lost the 1955 general election.

Candidates

Three candidates were nominated.

1. The left wing candidate was the father of the National Health Service, former Minister of Health, Aneurin Bevan (born 1897). Bevan had represented the Welsh constituency of Ebbw Vale since 1929.
2. The younger candidate from the right wing of the party was Hugh Gaitskell (born 1906), who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer 1950–1951. Gaitskell had been MP for Leeds South since 1945.
3. A veteran right wing Labour minister Herbert Morrison (born 1888), who had been deputy leader as well as having served in the senior ministerial offices of Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary, was also seeking the leadership. Morrison, the leading London politician of his generation, had been an MP since 1923 (with some breaks) and was representing Lewisham South in 1955.

Ballot

The result of the only ballot of Labour MPs on 14 December was as follows:

References

• Butler, David; Butler, Gareth (2000), Twentieth-Century British Political Facts 1900–2000 (8th ed.), Macmillan Press
• Stenton, M.; Lees, S., eds. (1981), Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV 1945–1979, Harvester Press